Snapshots
by Stelena-Beautiful
Summary: A collection of drabbles and one shots written about various AMC couples and characters. (I take requests so tell me who you'd love to read about most.)
1. Life, Interrupted (Maria)

_**A collection of drabbles and one shots featuring random AMC couples and characters.**_

**Life, Interrupted**

_**What Maria might have been thinking before the plane she was on crashed (all the way back in 1997)!**_

She had wanted her baby to be his more than she had ever wanted anything in the whole world. She had planned to tell him right away but she hadn't gotten the chance. Now she never would. The plane was plummeting faster and faster still towards a dark abyss. _The unknown._ Which scared her. The only thing that terrified her worse was knowing that she was going to die without being able to tell Edmund the truth about Maddie. He deserved that moment after all of his suffering. She also thought of how Sam, sweet Sam, would grow up without her and how he needed a mom, a stabilizing influence, someone to love him unconditionally.

_Her heart was breaking._

The plane continued hurtling towards darkness, about to crash bottom. She closed her eyes and pictured life as it would have been if it had not been interrupted this way.

Edmund would have forgiven her for her betrayal in time. She would have put Maddie in his arms and called him "Daddy" and looked at him in just such a way that he would know the undeniable truth. Sam would be so happy to see his parents reunited. They would all spend the day in the park, celebrating, eating little sandwiches and Edmund and Maria would push the kids on the swings. Then they would take them home and tuck them lovingly into bed before heading to bed themselves where they would make passionate love the whole night through.

Their whole lives would be good, as close to perfect as was possible. They'd be surrounded with love and laughter. Edmund would once again look like at her like she was his everything. They would have it all.

She kept her eyes closed, dreaming of Edmund's smile - the one he saved for her and her alone.

For now, it was over. But in another life, they would be back together with their children where they belonged.


	2. Moment by Moment (Cassandra, Griff)

**Moment by Moment**

_**A Cassandra and Griffin one shot. Not sure where the idea came from but here you go.**_

She had come into the hospital bloody, bruised, broken. He'd been the one an emotional Angie had entrusted to her care. Tears ran down her face and she winced every time the salty wetness hit a particularly sensitive open wound. He could see though that underneath the cuts and welts, she was a very pretty girl. He hoped his hand was steady enough in the OR to help restore some of that beauty her captors had stolen away. He didn't want her to look into the mirror and every time be reminded of what those animals had done to her.

He heard Angie's desperate cries as her precious daughter was wheeled into the operating room. She wanted to be there with Cassandra but of course, she couldn't be. She couldn't remain detached and calm. Griffin wasn't honestly sure thought that he could either. He had been a doctor for more than a decade but seeing this level of brutality … well, it was something he had never gotten used to.

He and Cara worked on Cassandra for hours and then she was wheeled to recovery. Griffin could only hope that he had done his job.

He went to check on his patient within the hour and was surprised to find her awake and shouting at her parents. "Get out, get out!" she cried. "I don't want anyone to see me." She had a streaked mirror on her lap.

Griffin quickly entered the room. "The cuts, the bruises, they'll heal," he said, making himself known.

She looked at him with wounded brown eyes and shook her head. "I'll never be the same," she said in a hoarse voice.

"Cassy," Angie started.

"Please just get out," Cassandra begged. "All of you, get the hell out!"

Tears streaked Angie's cheeks and though Jesse tried to remain stoic, Griffin could see he was very emotional as well.

Jesse and Angie finally walked out, shoulders slumped, heads each hung low.

"Miss Foster-" Griffin started.

"I meant you too. I don't want to see anyone, no one!"

"I'm your doctor. I can't leave you like this. You need-"

"I don't need anyone!" Cassandra snapped. "No one can love me now."

"That's not true. The bruises will heal on the outside. The ones inside might take a little longer, but they'll heal too, over time."

Cassandra looked doubtful. "I don't believe it."

"Your parents love you, Miss Foster."

She nodded. "I know but – but what if I can't be the daughter they used to love? The one they wanted?"

"They will love you no matter what. They don't expect you to be alright overnight," Griffin said. He then withdrew his stethoscope and moved over to her, cautiously, as if he were approaching a wounded dear that could flee at any moment.

He pressed the cool metal to her chest and she looked down. "They – they fucked me up," Cassandra murmured. "Those guys. And not just my face…"

Griffin nodded as he listened to her rhythmic heartbeat. He was a cardiologist by specialty. He was supposed to fix hearts, but it was hard when this one was so shattered.

Cassandra dissolved into fresh tears as he pulled the ear buds out. Without giving it a second thought, he reached out and offered her his hand. She squeezed it hard, vice-like, but didn't let go.

By the end of the day, she would make peace with her parents. In a few weeks, she would leave the hospital. In a few months, she would return and hug Griffin enthusiastically, excited that her scars were nearly gone. In a few more months, he would ask her out on a date... Eventually they would fall deeply in love, and get married and have all the things he'd claimed many times over that he never wanted.

But for now, they had this quiet, gently moving moment.

_And it was enough._


	3. TSFOM (Babe, Amanda)

_**An angsty Babe and Amanda story. Femslash-implied. Enjoy and leave feedback please!**_

**The Sincerest Form of Manipulation**

"Dammit, Babe!" Amanda hissed as soon as she saw Babe walk out of her husband JR's office.

Babe's face flushed bright red as her eyes fell on Amanda and she looked like the proverbial child with their hand caught in the family cookie jar. Amanda wanted to hate her for that look alone but she couldn't because Babe still looked as sexy and put together as she always did. Only Amanda ever got to see how truly broken she was.

Amanda latched onto Babe's arm immediately, pulling her into the alcove under the staircase. "Why are you doing this?" Amanda demanded, hating the sound of jealousy and pain in her voice and yet being unable to squelch it. "Why are you still with him? Why are you still letting him yank your chain?"

Babe's wide blue eyes filled with tears and she pushed Amanda back a bit. "Amanda, JR and I are back together."

Amanda sneered. "For how long? How long before he's trying to kill you or cheating on you with his secretary?"

"He's trying to change," Babe offered lamely.

"He is not! Leopards don't change their spots and apparently neither do gold-digging whores like you!" Amanda spat. And then naturally she regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. She didn't want to regret them but she did just the same when she saw tears splash down Babe's alabaster cheeks.

"You're not going to say anything to that?" Amanda asked. "You're not even going to slap me for that like in the olden days of the Babe and Amanda wars?"

Babe shook her head. "No. I was stupid enough to think we were past all that once we –"

"Once we what, Arabella?" Amanda challenged. "Say it, dammit. Admit what I felt wasn't one-sided; tell me it wasn't all in my crazy mind."

Babe shook her head. "I can't say that. We were drunk –"

"Maybe the first time," Amanda said. "But we were stone cold sober the next time and the next time and the next time after that. Tell me please that I'm not turning into my mother, a crazy bitch who doesn't know reality from a hole in the ground. Tell me I didn't imagine you and everything we had together."

Babe looked at Amanda then, must have noticed the desperation in her face and Babe nodded. "You weren't alone, Amanda. I felt it too. I felt every moment in your arms. I felt every kiss and every touch and I wanted you so much. It took us both by surprise but JR-"

"JR's always going to be between us isn't he?" Amanda practically cried. "He's this God who controls you and you're too dumb to see it."

Babe fumed outwardly. "Will you quit with the insults already?"

Amanda ran a hand through her light brown hair. "I'm sorry. Okay, I'm sorry. I just don't think you see how much he manipulates you."

"Of course I do, Amanda!" Babe spat at Amanda. "Do you think I'd be with him for any reason other than that he is holding something over my head?"

Amanda felt like she had taken a punch to the gut. "What – what could he possibly have on you?"

"My son," Babe answered. "He's basically holding Little A for ransom. Saying if I don't stay away from you, I'm going to lose my son. And as much as I – I … care about you – oh hell, I fucking adore you, you know that, you bitch! … But he says if I even think of leaving him again, he's going to take Little A from me forever. I don't have a legal leg to stand on with all the shit I've pulled."

"Oh, Babe," Amanda said, both touched by Babe's declaration of feeling for Amanda and sickened at JR's blackmail scheme all at the same time. "We'll stop him. We'll run away if we have to."

Babe shook her head. "No, no we can't. He'll find us like he did last time when I was on the run with Jamie. Back when I thought I loved Jamie but all it took was you coming into my life to upset the total applecart. You ruined everything, you know. I should hate you for it, but I can't. I just can't!" Babe cried and Amanda immediately, instinctively, stepped forward and embraced Babe as tightly as she could. They were friends. They were enemies. They were lovers. They were … Everything to each other and JR was going to keep them apart. They both knew he could do it too. He had done it before.

"He's a bastard," Babe said, snuggling deeper into Amanda's arms. "I hate him."

"I know," Amanda said. "At what point does he stop manipulating and ruining our lives?"

Babe wiped her eyes and stepped away from Amanda's embrace. "He doesn't. Because he's JR. He's a Chandler and Adam's son in every way. He's not going to change so I'm stuck where I am."

"We could fight him."

"You know we can't," Babe said, tears streaming down her face. "You know we can't. JR never loses. I love you, Amanda, but my son has to be my first priority always."

"You're scared, Babe," Amanda said. "You're scared to trust in us. That we could possibly make it."

"That may be part of it but as long as Little A is a minor; I have to be there for him so he doesn't turn into his father. I don't ever want him to grow up thinking the things JR does are normal or acceptable. I don't want him to be hateful like JR is. I don't want him to ever settle for revenge over happiness."

Tears streaked down Amanda's face. "So this is it, Babe? JR wins?"

Babe nodded sadly. "Yeah … I guess he does."

Babe leaned over and briefly brushed her lips to Amanda's and then was gone, taking Amanda's soul and heart and life with her.

**A/N:** I have lots of happier Amanda/Babe stories. Let me know if you'd like me to post them too.


	4. Wrath (Madison, Frankie)

**Wrath**

_**Madison and Frankie.**_

It makes me so angry – no, livid! - to see my daughter running around with that man. The man who in my opinion cost us everything. Him and his stupid slut of an ex-wife, Randi, the hooker. Madison had it all with her husband Henry and she ruined it. I gave Henry to her on a silver platter and she saw that gift as a curse. She said that I was trying to control her. She is a spoiled brat. A spoiled, willful, obnoxious and disgusting brat and now I'm sitting in a jail cell about to rot away for life because of that bitch of a daughter of mine.

I want to hurt her. I also want to hurt the man who took her away from me - Frankie Hubbard. She goes around saying how he treats her like a princess, how he will never let her down and never has. She has pathetic sparkles in her eyes when she talks about him. I swear she comes to the jail to visit me just to taunt me about all I have lost. She acts as if she has a right to defy me, to imprison me for crimes I only committed for her sake.

Today she comes to visit me and I really want to hurt her. I really do. I want to murder her actually but have to resist as she sits there and tells me she and that insipid fool Frankie are engaged. "We're happy, father, and you can't ever take that away from us ever again."

I know she is doing it out of spite - marrying that fool, becoming a part of his pathetic family for what she likes to think is for all time. She says she and Frankie belong together and I want to say, no, no you belong rotting in hell. But for some reason I don't. I just plot how I'm going to make them pay when I get out of here and I will get out of here very soon.

XoXoXo

I never thought I could feel this way about a woman, certainly not a stubborn bitchy, slightly insane one like Madison. And yet I do, I really do. Randi and I both realized that I loved Madison and we both walked away from our marriage as nobly as was possible. Last I heard Randi is living in some place called Genoa City, involved with a guy named Devon or something of the sort. I'm happy for her and she seems happy for me. The anger of the past has drifted away and we are moving on.

Today Madison and I will be married. We had been dating for nearly a year when I popped the question over breakfast at the Valley Inn. I put a ring in her orange juice. She actually laughed when she nearly choked on it and I knew it wasn't original but she said "yes!" and that's all that matters. We make each other happy. She makes me feel whole and like a man slightly out of control but I've come to see that that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I am fixing my tie in the chapel's vestibule when my parents hurry in. Mother has tears on her face and Dad begins his pacing mode as they lay the news on me. Madison's father broke out of jail this morning and she's missing now. I can only think the worst. I can only feel the heat of fierce hatred and wrath coursing its way through my veins.

XoXoXo

We track Madison and her father down to his old ranch outside of town. He is holding my son's future bride hostage with a gun to her forehead, warning us to walk away or we're going to have a blood bath on our hands. I'm a cop. I am supposed to handle this stuff and all I can feel is fear then. Fear that my son will lose the woman he loves more than anything and also helplessness that I couldn't stop it.

Madison is quietly standing locked in her father's arms, watching Frankie's eyes which are filled with tears matching her own. "I'm sorry," she says. That's all she says. And she looks so sad and my son looks the same and I know he'll never recover if he loses this crazy but loveable woman.

I cock my gun, will myself to shoot straight and clip daddy dearest in the arm. He howls in pain and drops the gun. Before I can stop her, Madison is diving for the gun in her white wedding dress and lording it over her father who is suddenly looking less full of himself and more like the weak sonuvabitch he really is.

"Don't do it, Madison!" I scream at her. "You don't want to do this."

"Yes I do!" she screams back, tears running in rivulets down her face. "He almost ruined my life. If it weren't for Frankie and you..." Her voice trails off and now she's cocking the pistol herself.

I look at my son, willing him to not let his own anger take control of this situation. And then as I should have known he would do, he is approaching Madison and holding out his hand to her, saying, "Walk away, Mads, put the past behind you and come with me. Come be my bride. Come be my wife in every way that counts. Don't do this and take away or future, the one we've fought so hard for..."

Madison looks at Frankie, then back at her dad, whispers "go to hell!" to him, and then hands me the pistol and jumps into Frankie's arms. She is crying; he's crying; there's even a tear or two in my eye. I read the asshole his rights and then lead him into my cruiser.

We all walk away then. If not unscathed, then already in the process of healing...

**A/N:** I got a request for a David/Greenlee or David/Cara story. I will work on one or the other soon. Thanks.


End file.
